Hopes Come Crashing Down
by ImpossibleJedi4
Summary: He made a deal. He got nothing. He lost everything. Now they have to find a way to piece things back together. Mainly family stuff, pretty sad, microscopic Wendip if you look really hard.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: *nervously taps fingers* As you can very well see, this isn't my usual Fullmetal Alchemist fanfic. I hope I can do this incredibly awesome show justice!**

 **Okay so I have seen many, many fics sort of like this, where Bill finds some way to wreck Dipper's body before he can recover it. And you know what? I didn't see any completed ones. (I may have missed some, of course.) So this is my take on how it could have happened. Not a one-shot, but not too long either. Enjoy, R &R please!**

 _How did the day end up so utterly wrong? How how how?_

This was practically the only thought running through Dipper's ethereal head as he watched Bill, inhabiting his body, chase his sister around the stage of her big puppet show. Everything was so overwhelming... And practically the whole town was watching! And he could do nothing!

His eyes were stretched wide as he watched everything happen. Glancing out at the audience, he saw that his friends and family had similar stares. Everyone else just had adapted looks of confusion, like they had no idea what to make of this crazy turn of events. A few had even gotten up to leave.

"THIS IS UTTERLY PATHETIC!" A loud wheezing cry brought him back to the game of cat and mouse going on onstage. Bill ( _I'm going to call him Bill no matter if he's in my body or not_ ) had slowed down for a heartbeat, looking completely exhausted. "I WASN'T MADE FOR THIS MORTAL EXISTENCE," he insisted, rather more feebly than usual.

"Give my brother back his body, you... Meanie!" shouted Mabel, giving it her best effort. Dipper had to smile at that as he hovered, unseen, at her shoulder. Plus, she still has the journal hugged to her chest.

"DO NOT BE A FOOL," Bill hissed. "I'M STILL ALL-POWERFUL! I'M _IMMORTAL!_ "

"You're in Dipper's body now," Mabel said with a smirk. "You haven't slept in a few days, and I know all about you! Like your weaknesses and all that. You're not some evil triangle guy now!"

" _Someone really needs to give you advice on how to actually make a comeback,_ " Dipper whispered with a worried smile, though no one could hear.

"I'M SICK OF YOUR GAMES YOU PITIFUL HUMAN. THE ONLY GAMES I PLAY ARE THE ONES I'VE CREATED!" And with that, breath regained, Bill Cipher leapt at Mabel,knocking her over and sending the journal skidding across the stage, further back into the set,

"OOF." Both Mabel and the demon were sprawled out on the wood. Bill scrambled to his feet and dashed over to the journal and picked it up.

"YES ALL THESE SECRETS ARE MINE!" he crowed, laughing, an inhuman smile splitting his face.

But there was something that none of them had yet noticed. An almost imperceptible hissing. Of course that box of 'pyrotechnics' had been a bad idea. But Mabel, always enthusiastic, had insisted, saying that she wanted "maximum glitter." In retrospect, someone flinging handfuls of sequins from the rafters would have been smarter. But even smarter than that was the fact that the button to ignite the box had been in Mabel's back pocket. Now the fuses were lit.

Mabel herself was the first to pick up on it. "Hey do you smell..." She started before the box exploded.

For the rest of the audience members, this was just too much. All of the patrons aside from Stan, Wendy, and Soos ran out of the doors, some screaming about explosive socks. Gabe himself dashed out because he didn't want to see puppet carnage nor hurt his own precious puppets. What kind of mockery did Mabel think she had created? "Sullied my art," he'd growled as he fled the scene.

On the stage, it was chaos. Mabel had shrieked and thrown herself flat to the floor to escape the fireworks zipping around. Dipper was floating near her head, wishing to comfort her, especially when a hot component of a rocket landed on the back of her hand. All he could do was suck in a breathe and lay his incorporeal hand over hers when she screamed. He didn't even notice when one of the fireworks flew _through_ his chest.

Laughter jarred him from his place near Mabel. Bill was still flicking through the journal, completely unfazed by the whole ordeal.

"VERY INTERESTING..." It sounded like he was on a walk in the park rather than on a flaming sock puppet set.

" _Bill! You gotta move you're gonna get my body hurt!_ " Dipper yelled angrily, almost to the point of crying with desperation, both for himself and his sister. Indeed, he could feel tears pickling in his eyes.

The demon either didn't hear him or was ignoring him. Either way, Bill didn't move.

A groaning from above them caused Bill, Dipper, and even Mabel to look up.

Though the rockets had mainly all exploded, small fires were still apparent and smoke was everywhere. But of course, some rockets had gone up and exploded on the ceiling. Some in more convenient places than others. The metal structure that was holding up the stage lights was coming loose from its moorings, the wires and rivets holding it to the ceiling straining.

All was quiet for a moment. Then...

"Dipper move!" That was Stan. Soos and Wendy were both shouting at the same time and couldn't be heard.

"BIPPER!" screamed Mabel desperately. This finally got him to look up.

His eyes were so peculiar. Most eyes, both those of humans and animals, looked like they almost had threads of light and color woven into them. They shimmer and took on an amazing iridescent quality.

Bill's eyes, or rather Dipper's eyes, had none of that. They were flat yellow with those awful slit pupils. It was like someone had painted his irises and sclera with a matte finish wall paint. The effect was so unnatural.

Even under the bright stage lights, which were getting closer and closer every femtosecond, those eyes didn't shine.

As the mess of steel came crashing down, the demon in the boy's body didn't flinch. The only thought running through his head was,

 _If pain is hilarious then this is gonna be a RIOT!_

ΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔ

A crashing thud. That was all they heard. No screaming, no crying.

The smoke had been stirred up by the falling beams and the four of them coughed as they raced to the spot. Mabel, being closest, made it there first.

Her eyes widened and tears came quickly as she saw what she knew she'd see.

The metal structure was lying on top of her brother. His head was unharmed, but from his chest down he was underneath the cage-like light support. His chest looked strangely flat, as if there were no bones in it at all, and his arms and legs were bent at odd angles. Blood ran from numerous gashes on his lower half, and from his mouth and nose.

"Grunkle Stan!" she shrieked, in a sound that was half a sob. He had arrived next to her and couldn't speak. Neither could Wendy or Soos. They just stood with their mouths open, trying to fathom what had just happened.

Mabel crept closer to Dipper's body, as if it could reach out and bite her at any second. In reality, she was truly scared of reality reaching out and biting her.

Could a demon even die in a human body? She didn't know.

When she arrived at his side, she saw the blood on his nose and mouth bubble and heard slight wheezing gasps.

"He... He's still alive! We have to save him!" She cried as she bolted to the light holder and tried her hardest to lift it. Grunkle Stan and the others had raced over at that, and Stan had placed his hands next to Mabel's and prepared to lift, but then he saw his nephew's condition.

"Mabel," he began, sighing. He was a realist, right? And he knew... This was hopeless. Nothing could save the boy now. But how could he tell Mabel that? He put a hand on her shoulder. "It's... Too late, kiddo. I'm... I'm sorry. But he's way too badly hurt. Even if we could get him to a hospital in time... I'm sorry."

"No that can't be right!" She choked on her words as she sat next to her brother's head. "Dipper... Please wake up..."

Now what had happened to Bill and the real Dipper as this all went down? Bill had certainly been knocked out of Dipper's body and had fled quickly back to the Mindscape. Dipper had watched him go without a word. Now he hovered above his family, crying uncontrollably. He was dead. At least, his body was. He could feel an impatient PULL towards his own dying form that slowly was growing weaker. And he didn't know what to do.

 _If I go back to my body, I might be able to talk to them one last time!_ Dipper was pacing in midair, panicking and shaking as his time wore out. All of the puppets had been destroyed, including the one he had used as a 'vessel' before. _But if I do that I'll... Die._ And Dipper absolutely didn't want to die. The thought terrified him. He didn't know where he'd go... If anywhere! But... He might be giving up the chance to ever speak to his family again. But maybe he could fix this if he just clung to existence...

He stopped pacing and looked down at his twin sister, riddled with the indecision that had always plagued him, watching her carefully wipe the blood off his face with her sweater sleeve, only to have it replaced by more.

In the next second his choice was taken from him. His body's chest stopped moving and the pull vanished.

"Dipper!" howled Mabel. Dipper floated over to her and tried to comfort her, but he knew she couldn't see him. He turned to the others. Wendy was muttering something under her breath even as her vision clouded over with tears. He came closer.

"I always did care about you, you know... I don't know if it was because you seemed like my younger brother or if it was because I had a crush on you or whatever. I'm.. I'm really bad at those feelings, okay? And it was weird because you were younger and you really liked me and I had no clue what my feelings were and I still don't, but... I did love you in some sense, okay? I... I really hope you knew that." All of her words came out in a rush as she covered her mouth and eyes with her hands and let out a sob. Dipper found that once again his eyes were leaking too, and he bowed his head, trembling.

"This is so messed up," commented Soos in a hushed tone. He wasn't sure that this was all real yet. But if it was... "Real messed up."

The next few hours were spent with Robbie's parents, the funeral directors. Even they were hushed, and they tended to make the best out of their job. They didn't like seeing kids die, especially ones they knew.

A forklift was required to lift the stage equipment off of Dipper, and then Mabel refused to let him go. No forklift could pry them apart. Only Grunkle Stan.

"Mabel." He'd sat next to her, sadness on his face. "Theres nothing more we can do. You gotta let him go, okay? He would've wanted that."

"How could this happen, Grunkle Stan? I just wanted to put on a nice show for my summer crush and then Dipper got possessed and I wasn't quick enough... It's.. It's my fault, isn't it?" She looked at him, eyes brimming with tears. "It's my fault. I was too caught up in my own life to care about my brother!" And with that she carefully lay her brother down and flung herself at her great uncle, positively howling in misery.

Stan hugged her close, but he didn't know how to respond. Dipper, possessed? How could that have happened? He vowed to ask Mabel about it later, but this wasn't the time.

Now that Mabel had let go, Dipper's body was removed and driven to Robbie's house. Not before Mabel had found Dipper's hat and given it to Robbie's parents, though. She knew he would have wanted it.

ΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔ

Dinner that night wasn't really a dinner at all. Stan made sandwiches, but neither Mabel nor himself managed to eat one. Soos and Wendy had gone home in shock, probably to the same sort of night.

"Do... Do you want to talk, kid?" Grunkle Stan looked at his broken niece across the table.

"Not really, Grunkle Stan," she managed, pushing her plate away finally. "I'm tired. I should probably try to sleep."

"One thing. Before you go... You talked about Dipper getting possessed. What was all that about?"

Mabel sighed and gazed at the floor. "Can I tell you tomorrow? I just want to go to bed."

"Of course. Today was... Well, today was... A day. I'll talk to you in the morning."

"Come on, Waddles," Mabel said, patting the pig, who had been sleeping by the stairs, on the head. Waddles nosed her hand as they walked up the stairs, using his animal brand of ESP to tell that something was wrong.

When they got upstairs, Mabel slowly got ready for bed, doing the things that, until five hours and twenty minutes ago, she'd done with Dipper. There was just a constant lump in her throat, like that one time she'd swallowed a plastic dinosaur in her Mabel Juice. Except this was worse because she didn't have a brother to whack her on the back and make it go away. She didn't have a brother any more, period.

She gasped. Did this mean she technically wasn't a twin any more? She had no idea of the answer to that unsettling question, so she pushed the thought away and climbed into bed. Waddles curled up under the covers with her and she hugged him close. She took on last look at the empty bed in the darkness and spoke the words that she always did, though she knew they'd be heard by only herself. Tears sliding down her face, she closed her eyes and murmured,

"Goodnight Dipper."

ΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔ

But he did hear her. He was sitting on the edge of his bed, same as always, just... Not quite.

" _Goodnight Mabel,_ " he responded sadly. Then, scooting to the middle of his bed and drawing his knees up to his chest, Dipper cried. He cried for nearly twenty minutes before his tears slowed down and he sniffed and wiped his nose.

" _Why did this have to happen to me!_ " he shrieked, sadness suddenly turning into anger. He tried to swipe some of his books of his desk but his arm just went right through them. That just caused him to shout more. He was breaking because he had to watch his sister break, something no sibling should ever see. Their hearts were connected, and, right now, both were covered in cracks.

" _Our lives were good! Triangle demons aside, solving mysteries was fun! This summer was fun! We had... We had it all. And Bill took that from us! From all of us!_ " Dipper didn't know if he should blame Gideon for releasing Bill, the journal for pulling him into the search for the Author, or... Himself. He'd made the deal. He'd done this...

" _No. This was Bill's fault. Maybe I was stupid to let him get his way, but he's the real evil,_ " he said. Dipper could NOT let himself fall into despair. He had to find a way to fix this.

As he always did when he was thinking, he began to pace, tapping his chin. Then he saw Mabel's sweater of the day tossed onto the floor. It was covered with blood... _His_ blood, and he shuddered, but the corner of the journal unmistakably poked out from the front pouch.

" _Mabel, you did it,_ " he breathed. " _If I can just find a way to talk to you... You could see if there was any hidden messages in there to get me back to normal! Yes!_ " He actually smiled for the first time since being ripped from his own body.

And then he saw it. A small red bubble was blooming over his sisters sleeping form, glowing eerily in the night. Eventually it grew to the size of Dipper's head and stayed that way. Shimmering images flickered across the curved surface and Mabel make a small noise and rolled over.

" _Is that... A dream?_ " Dipper asked the silent air. A pause, then,

" _Oh no this is bad, I can see other peoples' DREAMS! What the heck what the... Okay calm down. It's not like I'm going to turn into a monocular glowing blue dodecahedron, right? Right? Okay, okay, as long as that doesn't happen... Whew._ " Having recovered from his panic attack, Dipper removed his hands from his chest and breathed deeply a few times.

Then he moved over to his sister.

The dreams must have been nightmares, because she had begun tossing and turning fretfully. Once, he heard his name mentioned. He could see the events of the day in the bubble, along with flashes of Bill's equilateral form and glaring eye.

Hoping to help his sister, he held out a hand near the orb and paused. The section of the bubble closest to where his translucent fingers were had turned a warm, sunny yellow. And he hadn't even touched it yet!

Wait... Dreams.

 _I can talk to Mabel in her dreams!_ he cried mentally, shocked. Holding both of his hands slightly over the face of the orb like a psychic at a crystal ball, one thought made him pause. The orb was now mostly splattered with gold instead of blood red, but...

 _Am I becoming a dream demon too?_

Shaking his head, face set with resolve, Dipper ignored the troubling thought and placed his hands on the now pacified dream.

 **AN: Weeell how was that? I don't know, feels like it's missing something. Hope it's satisfactory! Tune in for more soon!**

 **EDIT: I have reuploaded this chapter with a few coding fixes and a few edited lines!**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Well, here's part 2!**

 **And an update: I bought and read Journal 3 (minus the encrypted parts, those will take time) but I may work some of that stuff into the story! I highly recommend reading it, not just to understand this story, but because it's really good!**

 **Another update: I will be working stuff from Journal 3 into the story so definitely beware of spoilers! Especially of a certain note left behind... (Which in no way did I come up with its word for word taken from the Journal!)**

 **And some thanks are in order... First of all, thank you to the users serendipity. and Solarizing of ChickenSmoothiecom, Scifur of FlightRisingcom, and BinxAngelo14 of Fanfictionnet(also found on FlightRising, my awesome RP buddy!) for being my amazing beta readers of chapter one!**

 **Also cover art is both drawn and photoshopped by BinxAngelo13! (The background obviously is an official image from Gravity Falls, neither of us own that!) And the background art isn't up yet because the only device of mine that image manager doesn't hate is in the shop right now. But I promise it will be up soon!**

Mabel's dream.

No, correction, Mabel's NIGHTMARE.

Dipper could see his twin cowering on stage, pursued by Bill. Except this time Bill was still controlling Dipper's ruined form. Dripping blood from his mouth and wounds, limbs bent all wrong, he staggered ever nearer like the most terrifying sort of zombie. And all the while, those lamp like eyes and Cheshire grin never left his face. His teeth were pointed, not as they had been in life, and the blood bubbled and sprayed from in between them as he walked closer, and closer...

And in an instant all of this was whirled away to be replaced by... A warm, golden space, empty save for Dipper and Mabel.

Looking down, Dipper realized that no more was he tinted blue and translucent. He was whole again.

"Dipper?" Mabel asked, voice cracking questioningly as she got to her feet and wiped away some of the tear tracks on her face.

"Mabel!" He shouted her name so ridiculously happily that she couldn't help but give him a massive smile. Running over, she threw her arms around him in a real, genuine, non-awkward-sibling hug. She was practically crushing the life out of him, but he didn't care.

"Did... Did you scare off that nightmare?" she finally managed when she sat back to look at him. He took a seat on the ground opposite her.

"I'm not sure. I don't think I'm scary enough to drive off nightmares, but... Maybe I'm a comforting presence." He gave her arm a playful shove as they'd often done in the waking world.

"Probably," she replied, laughing, overjoyed just to [i]see[/i] him again. "But how are you here? I mean I saw you... Is this all in my head? Am I making this up?"

Dipper had never heard Mabel ask so many serious questions all at once.

"No, you're not, I promise." He sat in front of her, crosslegged. "Remember how I talked to you through a sock puppet?"

"Yeah," she remembered, laughing even through her pain. His tiny puppet face had been ridiculous, after all.

"Well, I'm still stuck in this 'Mindscape' or whatever, but all the puppets are gone. So I didn't know how to talk to you guys... I... I almost went back into my body to say goodbye." He smiled a little. "I thought it would be the last chance I got."

"I'm glad you didn't, you dork. We woulda lost you forever!" Only with a lot of willpower did she resist hugging him again.

"Me too." He paused, thinking. "Well, I followed you guys home... And when you fell asleep there was this orb over your head and I touched it and now I'm here," he finished in a rush.

"And I'm glad you are," Mabel added. Then she asked, "what's it like, being all ghosty 'n stuff?"

In the relaxed, calming atmosphere, Dipper couldn't help but laugh. "Very weird, Mabel. Okay floating is sorta kinda cool, but... Yeah I'd rather stick to having a body."

"Me too. Then I can drink Mabel Juice and eat nachos!"

"And those reasons too," he agreed. "But that's why I'm here. You've gotta help me!"

"Help you get your body back?" She cocked her head.

Dipper nodded. "Yeah! You've got to go through the journal and see if there's anything on healing or ghosts other than the category stuff."

"The one you're always reading?"

"Yes the one you stole when we found the actual founder of the town and drew yourself folding the map into a hat in. The one you drew a diagram of me kissing Mermando in when we swapped bodies. The one I've been reading all summer!" He gave her a look.

She laughed a bit. "You saw all that, huh?"

"Mabel I've read the whole thing eight times. Yes I saw all that!" Dipper couldn't bring himself to feel as mad as he had when he'd first seen that she'd used some of the precious pages practically as a diary. In fact, he couldn't bring himself to be mad at all. He was only happy to see her again. "But none of that matters now, you got to use the black light and comb the pages for something I've missed! I don't remember every word of what it said... Maybe there's something on how to heal bad injuries that I missed." He sincerely hoped the coded pages didn't contain something... He had no idea how to crack the encryptions and had no desire to even think about the word 'cipher.'

"Well okay, I can do that for you, bro-bro," Mabel said, smiling. "And maybe I'll finally understand why you're obsessed with that moldy old book."

"It might smell like centipedes but it contains all the mysteries of this town!" Dipper protested. "Well, a lot of them anyways."

"You and your mystery hunting. I like it too, but only you," she poked him in the ribs, "would need a book to tell you how to do it."

"Yeah yeah," he said, waving away her hand. "But... Thanks, Mabel. I'm really happy you'll help me."

"You're my brother you goof, why wouldn't I help you?" Then she paused and rubbed her arm. "Yeah, I was kinda wrapped up in the summer romance thing... Sorry about that... I was too late..."

"Better late than never," he responded, trying to stay upbeat. She smiled at him gratefully.

"For now do you want me to make another Dipper puppet? Then you can talk to me during the day."

Shaking his head no wasn't easy for Dipper. "Bill could maybe possess it and do more awful stuff. Plus... Well, Grunkle Stan may think that you're trying to recreate me, and if he sees you talking to a puppet... Well, he may think you've lost your marbles." He winced. She actually seemed to understand, though.

"Yeah, that might freak him out even more. But I gotta tell him you're still around."

"What?! No, he'll never believe you!" Dipper protested, shaking his head vehemently.

Mabel looked him in the eyes,serious for once. "I gotta! Dipper, if he calls Mom and Dad and tells them you died you coming back would be a mess! For all we know you could be taken away and become a science experiment!"

Dipper realized quickly that she was right. Completely and absolutely right. "O-okay," he managed, nodded. "You're right. Just... Try not to make it sound too weird."

"You got it." She smiled again.

Little did either of them know, the time to wake was approaching. Time passed quicker in the Dreamscape, as they'd come to figure out soon enough.

ΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔ

"Mabel, wake up kiddo." Stan was standing next to her bed awkwardly, poking her with one hand and carrying a plate of food in the other. "I made you breakfast."

"Wha?" Mabel blinked her eyes open blearily. "Oh. Morning Grunkle Stan." The happy light had faded from her eyes as soon as her dream world winked out, taking Dipper with it.

That didn't go unnoticed. Stan saw the spark fade from his great niece's eyes the second she woke up. Either she'd forgotten what happened for a second... Or she'd been dreaming of Dipper.

"Morning. I thought maybe you'd be hungry." He set the tray on her lap. "I made too much food and needed the exercise." He always had an excuse for everything. And everyone knew he hated exercise so he had to be faking.

Mabel only then, with a plan in her head and peace in her heart, realized how hungry she was. The eggs and toast didn't last long, and Stan was very happy that she ate something. Laying the tray of dirty cutlery aside, he sighed. "Okay kiddo, can you explain about the whole 'Dipper being possessed' thing? Ya kinda promised." He didn't want to push her, but yes, he was extremely curious.

He wanted to know exactly what had killed his nephew.

Mabel took a deep breath and launched into the tale of Bipper, or at least what she knew of it. She didn't know how he got that way, she said, only that he was stuck watching hopelessly when the lights and the day came crashing down. Stan listened with more and more shock and horror. He had no choice but to believe her. She might make up ridiculous stories sometimes, but he could tell she wasn't lying... He began asking questions as Mabel filled in the gaps.

During all this, Dipper himself was on his bed. Well, hovering over it. He was simply listening, quietly whispering corrections to his own story under his breath and answering his Grunkle's questions, even if neither person could hear him.

" _Yes I was there the whole time. I got this way by making a stupid deal. Yes Mabel I did try to help you escape the fireworks but I couldn't. N-no, I'm...not in any pain._ "

That last question had been Stan's, who sighed. "Wish I could ask the kid myself."

Mabel looked at him, then over in the space she guessed her twin to be.

"You know that all this magical and supernatural stuff exists, right?" she asked with slight hesitation.

"Yeah, I told you two after the zombie attack. Remember?" Stan was almost lost in thought.

"Well, he's still here. Dipper, I mean. He's... Stuck in this Mindscape place that Bill came from. He can only talk to us if he has a body... Or in our dreams. I'm guessing though right now, he somewhere in this room." Since Stan was gaping and not speaking, Mabel continued. "He said that he didn't die 'cuz he wasn't in his body when it... Stopped working. So he's stuck until I find a way to fix him." She looked at him with sad puppy-dog eyes. "You'll help, right?"

Stan was completely dumbfounded. His nephew was still alive, but trapped in some weird ethereal reality? Now he was extra angry. That Bill character who had tried to sabotage his life had done this to Dipper. He wanted revenge.

"Of course I'll help." He ruffled her hair, then turned to the empty bed. "And, uh..." He felt rather silly, but he had to trust Mabel. "Uh kid, Dipper, if you're there... Sorry we couldn't help fast enough. But now we're on the case. We'll fix it. Fix you. We'll be back to watching Duck-Tective together before you know it."

There was no response, but then again he hadn't expected one. So with one last look at Mabel, he carried the breakfast tray downstairs. He was breathing sort of heavily. He was so extremly relieved that he hadn't called the twins' parents yet. That would've been a hot mess...

Last night had had felt too winded, too utterly in shock to call. Plus... Well, he hasn't wanted to believe it himself. Sitting in the dark kitchen alone, after Mabel had left, he'd actually cried. For the first time in what felt like an eternity. He hadn't know what to do, what to say... Should he act like things were normal? Should he crack fake jokes or stay serious? What was Mabel's coping mechanism?

He knew, he'd known his whole life, that some people, when tragedy struck, preferred to only let out there emotions when they were alone and try to continue on normally in public. He was one of those people. But what if Mabel was the other sort? What if she wore her sad emotions on the sleeves of her homemade sweaters and would see his behavior as insensitive to her late brother?

Stan was genuinely scared. He didn't want to lose her to despair, depression, or anger at both the situation or himself. So he just say there, worrying uncharacteristically until morning.

But now... Now there was a possible way out. Stan still felt like he should've asked more questions, been more skeptical, but... He wanted badly to believe this to be true. It was the miracle he'd silently been hoping for all along. And if it turned out to be false... He knew he'd be crushed. But if it was really true (like he was bent on believing), and he brushed it off as fantasy?

He'd never forgive himself.

For now, though, he simply went back downstairs to figure out what to do next.

ΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔ

"Okay so let's look in this nerd book," Mabel breathed to herself as she grabbed the journal from her ruined sweater. Finding her brother's black light took more time, but eventually she found it underneath his bed. "Dipper you need to clean up after yourself," she protested as she wiggles out backwards from the dust-bunny-laden world underneath her twin's bed. "You must have a full bathtub's worth of chewed pens under there!"

While there was no response, she knew that he'd probably heard her. "First thing we're doing when we get you back. Hey I should make a list!" With that thought in her head, still in her pajamas, she sat crosslegged on her own bed and began flipping through the pages, Waddles still asleep at her side.

She swept the light over the pages on ghosts. Nothing on restoring them to a human body. (Actually, not much of any useful info at all.) But Mabel dutifully flipped from page to page, finding some of it interesting but some of it boring. She got about halfway through without the black light, and was going to comb back through, when she heard a commotion downstairs. Curiosity got the better of her and she needed a break anyways, so she climbed down the stairs.

"I don't wanna talk to you reporter lady!" Grunkle Stan was shouting. Mabel walked by just in time to see him slam the door, looking angry.

"Why was there a reporter here?" she asked.

"Asking questions about your brother," Stan grunted. "I wasn't gonna give her an interview on what happened, that's for sure."

Mabel breathed a sigh of relief. "Wait... How did she know that something bad happened?"

"Kid, half the town knows he at least got hurt. Surprisingly enough, only a few people know... what really happened." He didn't want to use the word 'dead.' Dipper wasn't dead, just... Stuck.

"And she wanted to know what happened?" Stan nodded a yes in reply.

"But don't worry. I ain't telling no one."

Mabel nodded and peeked out a window. The yard was clear, save for Soos doing some tune-ups on the golf cart. She needed a break for the paranormal info swirling around in her head. Sighing, she opened the door and went to sit on the porch, but not before running inside to get a Popsicle. Her and Dipper had enjoyed reading the jokes on the sticks to each other... Maybe she's read the one she got out loud.

"Hey Mabel," Soos said as he walked over. "How're ya doin'?" He sounded uncertain and was uncharacteristically serious.

Mabel shrugged. "I'm okay." The warm glow of having a plan this morning was vaguely diminished by her lack of luck. But no way was she giving up yet.

"Good," Soos replied. "Dipper... He was a good dude." He didn't manage to say any more than that on the subject. Still rather too subdued, he said, "wanna help me with the Mystery Cart at all?"

Mabel nodded and stood up, putting the Popsicle stick into her pocket for later. Hopping down the steps, she walked over to where he was standing. Peering into the engine that he was tuning up, she wondered whether to tell him the truth about her brother's demise. (Or not-so-demise.) With the unhappy look on his face, she thought that maybe she should, but...

Mabel decided that she'd wait a bit. Soos had been known to spill the beans on secrets before, so, as much as it hurt to keep him in the dark, she wouldn't tell him at the moment.

"See, you twist this thing, which tightens that thing," he muttered, tapping a bolt with the wrench he was holding. Mabel nodded like the understood, then took a step back.

 _Crinkle_

Looking down, the girl noticed that she had stepped on a small sheet of what looked like notebook paper. Weird, bold handwriting slashed the paper, as if the writer had wielded a pen like an inky sword. When she picked it up, her hand began trembling, and she was unsure as of why...

This was what she read:

 **NOTE TO SELF: POSSESSING PEOPLE IS HILARIOUS! TO THINK OF ALL THE SENSATIONS I'VE BEEN MISSING OUT ON- BURNING, STABBING, DROWNING. IT'S LIKE A BUFFET TRAY OF FUN! ONCE I DESTROY THAT JOURNAL, I'LL ENJOY GIVING THIS BODY ITS GRAND FINALE- BY THROWING IT OFF THE WATER TOWER! BEST OF ALL, PEOPLE WILL JUST THINK PINE TREE LOST HIS MIND AND HIS MENTAL FORM WILL WANDER IN THE MINDSCAPE FOREVER. WANT TO JOIN HIM, SHOOTING STAR?**

Her blood chilled.

This had all been part of a plan. Bill hadn't moved when the metal fell _on purpose_. It hadn't been quite the ending her had imagined but still...

It had been deliberate.

Scrunching the note in her fist, Mabel marched back indoors, leaving a confused Soos behind.

She'd fix this.

Then, her and her brother, _together_ , would deal with Bill Cipher once and for all.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Well, finally here's another chapter! I know I've been busy with Some of Things, but this isn't abandoned. I know how it's all gonna go, I just need... To figure out how to write it all down! You guys understand, haha.**

 **And a relevant set of song lyrics:**

 _ **"Hey, Mother, Father, Sister**_

 _ **Hey, come back! Trying, believing...**_

 _ **Hey! Mother! Father! Dreamer!**_

 _ **Don't you know that I'm alive for you?"**_

 **Thought this song was very apt, it's Mother, Father by Journey. ;)**

Dipper had given his sister some space. He'd actually gone into the living room and watched TV with Grunkle Stan, though nobody else knew it. He was actually starting to see why his Grunkle liked the Duchess Approves so much.

He didn't even notice when Mabel stormed back up into their room and didn't come out until lunchtime. Even then, as she made some nachos in the microwave, she looked downcast. Only when Dipper and Grunkle Stan heard a loud THUD from the kitchen did they both race (and float) in to see what was wrong.

Mabel had pushed her plate away and her forehead was down on the table. "The dang book didn't say anything useful!" she wailed. "How am I ever gonna fix Dipper now?" She had no idea.

"Hey now don't go giving up so soon, kiddo," Stan said gently. "What book is that, Dipper's journal?" He knew it was his brother's journal, and he knew the sort of stuff that was in it. If there wasn't a way to bring his nephew back in there...

He didn't want to think about those possibilities.

"Yeah," Mabel sniffed. "I looked with the black light too. Nothing!" She flopped her head back onto the table in despair.

 _"Come on Mabel, there's gotta be another way,"_ Dipper soothed silently, knowing full well that it wouldn't do much good. _"There will be some other way besides the journal."_

"Hmmmmm," Grunkle Stan said, rubbing his chin. "Y'know I might have some books on magicky stuff somewhere around the Shack. You eat up and I'll go look, okay sweetie?" He ruffled her hair with a tired smile. She nodded.

"Okay Grunkle Stan. I'll try." Her smile was watery, but she nibbled a chip. Stan stood, then moved his chair so it was facing Mabel.

"Just in case, y'know... Dipper is hanging around." Then he shuffled off awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck because he didn't know what else to say. Neither of them knew, but the spectral boy did take the seat, ankles crossed and hands folded in his lap.

He didn't say anything.

Mabel sniffed and ate another chip, then carefully wiped her hands before opening the journal again. She'd stuffed Bill's note into the back and was now flipping through, trying to find it. Dipper had seen the note, though she hoped he hadn't...

She'd come back into the house mumbling and Dipper had floated over immediately to see what was wrong, and had read over her shoulder as her eyes scanned the lines again. Then she clutched it in a fist again and went upstairs to immerse herself in her research once more.

Dipper... He had cried spectral tears, now knowing that this was on purpose and that Bill had planned on killing his SISTER too. That was... Somehow it made everything worse for the boy. So, swiping at his face with a see-through forearm, he'd stayed downstairs with the distraction of his great uncle and the TV. He wished he could get Stan to recognize his presence so maybe the older man would talk to him every so often, but no matter how many poked Dipper administered to Stan's shoulder and arm and face, he was never noticed. So he sighed and settled down to watch.

He found that he quite enjoyed the Duchess Approves and would ask to watch it again if they managed to fix him. It made for a good distraction.

Now, at the table, Mabel had managed to flip to the beginning of Dipper's section in the journal. She found that... She couldn't just flip through his section. She would be able to hear her brother's voice in those words, even if it was just in her head. She hadn't read this part during her research...

So with a teary grin, she settled down to read it now. She found herself giggling at certain parts, even speaking aloud to the _possibility_ of Dipper sitting across from her.

"You're such a dork," she whispered.

 _"Hehe... I know, sis,"_ he said back, unheard. He was smiling too; the nickname lost its sting when said by his own twin, especially in that sad voice...

She read a few more pages, and then all of a sudden her face changed. The blood had left it and her eyes were wide and her mouth was agape. Dipper had time to glimpse a page with a chart and _black_ writing before Mabel screamed.

"GRUNKLE STAN, _I FOUND IT!_ "

Stan came dashing back into the room, first thinking she was hurt and that he couldn't lose her too before the words caught up with him. Unable to hear Dipper's protests, he sat in the empty chair while the boy phased through and ended up in a heap on the floor.

"What what did you find?!" Stan rasped, voice gone hoarse with desperation and the fact that he'd run back.

She held up the journal. "The copier machine can make really real full body clones of people! Dipper _cloned_ himself during that party, all so he could dance with Wendy!" Mabel was beaming while Dipper groaned.

 _"You couldn't have left that part out?"_

"There are some problems, like the fact that the clones are paper-y and dissolve in water, but with some planning we can get Dipper a body back!"

"Did I hear Mabel say we can get Dipper a body?" said a new voice, one that belonged to Soos.

All three occupants of the room, seen and unseen, jumped.

"Yes Soos!" Mabel cried, hopping up. "There's this copier machine that can copy real things! Dipper and I discovered that when we had to copy fliers for that party a while back? Not the zombie one, before that. Anyways Dip copied his own arm, which kinda came to life... But I never knew it could copy whole bodies!"

She reads little from the journal, explaining the drawbacks and such, shutting the dusty book when she was done and beaming. She saw two grinning faces back at her.

"Sweetie I am so proud of you right now," Stan said, almost tearing up. "Ya found something that just might work!"

"We can get the little dude back!" cheered Soos, offering Mabel a high five (which she accepted.) "And..." Soos continued, pausing when both gazes (plus a third invisible one) snapped to him.

"Uh, hehe... I was gonna say I think I might know a way to get Dipper's new body to not be all paper-like and dissolve-y, ya know... Once on TV, I found this weird medical show. Cutting edge research and all that... Apparently for, like, super fancy blood tests, scientists are making paper with actual living cells in it that changes color if the patient dude had some disease or something. Pretty wild, huh? But maybe if we could get to a hospital and have a sheet of creepy science fiction-y cell paper made from the dude's DNA... I dunno maybe he'd have a normal body?"

And both (all three) stares had gotten even wider and then Mabel tackled Soos' stomach in a hug. "SOOS YOU ARE AN AMAZING GENIUS THANK YOU!"

"Woah, not bad," Stan said with a stunned chuckle. "We... We actually have a plan to save Dipper. We're gonna need some help, probably Wendy... But yeah this could work..."

He was almost in shock. They could get Dipper back. They could. Incredible.

"We gotta... We gotta get his original body to copy, though," Mabel said, mood dropping a little, along with the atmosphere of the room.

"Oh great the new body will have the same injuries as the old one," Stan said, voice almost cracking in the middle.

"Maybe not the internal ones," Mabel said in an optimistic yet wavering tone. "If it's only the bruises and cuts, he'll be okay. We have ice and band aids for that. But... Why don't we test it out?"

Dipper was pacing nearby. _"If the scanner uses DNA or molecular composition to construct the clone, then the new body will be fine! Damage isn't written into DNA, after all... Wait what?"_ At his sister's voicing that they should _test it_ , Dipper's nonexistent heart leapt to his throat. Grunkle Stan voiced his unseen nephew's feelings.

"No way is anyone gettin' internal injuries to test that thing!"

"Grunkle Stan!" Mabel said, looking a little insulted. "That's not what I was saying! I broke my finger once when I was little. You can feel a bump." She held up her left hand and wiggled her ring finger.

"I was suggesting we copy my finger and check for a bump, Grunkle Stan! No one else needs to get hurt, yeesh!"

"Oh, uh, hehe, I coulda guessed that." Stan looked sheepish. "But okay, we need a plan to get Dipper's body back, first of all, then persuade the hospital to do the cell paper thing..." He stood up, clearing the table and setting out sheets of paper and four chairs.

"Soos, go dial up Wendy and tell her to get her butt over here 'cuz it's important. Now... Plans..."

Dipper, though his spirit form had been forgotten, could not help but give a teary smile.

 **AN: There's chapter 3! The cell-paper stuff is 100% true; I had a talk from a man who worked with it last semester in college! Pretty crazy cool, huh? Chapter 4 may take a while, I have a lot to write for Some of Things. Got some really special chapters of that coming up soon!**

 **But I have to work out chapter four of this too, and I promise it'll come! ;) Till next time!**


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